Baby sleeping too much?

Machel

Thu, Dec 14 2017, 8:37 am

I know I am probably crazy but I need some reassurance.

I'm a first time mom and My baby is 10 days. last night she slept for 4 hours, nursed for an hour and then slept another 4. This morning when she woke up she nursed on 1 side for 20 mins and is now back to sleep and its been almost an hour.

I know I should be grateful for the sleep but I am worried. Do I need to be?

lfab

Thu, Dec 14 2017, 9:01 am

No need to worry, at that age pretty much all babies do is eat and sleep. Newborns eat and sleep every 2-4 hours. At just a few days old they are only awake for brief periods and much of their awake time is spent eating! Enjoy the time when she is sleeping and use it to rest up. You'll see that in just a couple of weeks she will start to be more alert and stay awake for longer periods (but will still spend much of the day asleep). Mazel tov and enjoy your new baby.

heidi

Thu, Dec 14 2017, 10:35 am

OP, I don't mean to be an alarmist, but please be really aware of how much your baby is producing in terms of diapers. Google it, I think it's 6 wet diapers a day. Being that you're a first time mother, you may not be nursing optimally and you don't want her sleeping to be bcz. she's too weak from not eating. Not meaning to scare you-- just be aware.

someone

Thu, Dec 14 2017, 12:16 pm

Quote:

Thanks everyone. This is all new and anything different from yesterday makes me nervous. I am trying to work through it

Don't worry, the beginning is hard and scary, its completely normal. The feeling of responsibility for a living creature who can't communicate and explain what they need or tell you if something is wrong is terrifying (at least it terrified/still terrifies me). Try to remind yourself that even all those very experienced mothers who have seen it all and nothing shocks them were once where you are. And that Hashem gave you this baby and you have all the kelim you need to take care of her.
Take it one step at a time. Wishing you lots of nachas (and sleep)

amother

Honeydew

Thu, Dec 14 2017, 3:48 pm

Many say you should be waking up your baby to feed every 3 hours even if they are asleep - metabolically, most newborns can't go more than 3 hours without eating without it starting to affect them (don't worry if it's happened already - if you're baby seems fine, she is). It's totally normal for them to sleep longer than 3 hours, but check with our pediatrician on whether you should wake the baby up sooner.

For reference, my baby slept over 20 hours a day (with breaks every few hours) for the first few weeks. What matters is that the baby seems alert when she is awake, even if the waking periods are relatively brief.

amother

Jade

Thu, Dec 14 2017, 6:35 pm

Please dont wake your baby! Please dont count 6 wet diapers either. If your baby seems lathargic and unwilling to eat and doesnt have a wet diaper after several hours THEN get concerned. Each child is different...I let mine sleep for hours and it was fine.

heidi

Fri, Dec 15 2017, 1:02 am

amother wrote:

Please don't give ridiculous advice. There are guidelines that pediatricians can give based on more than your years of experience.
My niece was the best baby ever. Slept all the time. Except that she was slowly dying of malnutrition from a tongue malformation that had gone unnoticed in the hospital and was thus unable to latch on properly and suck normally. If my mother hadn't shown up on day 3 and realized something was wrong it would have had a very unhappy ending.

Iymnok

Fri, Dec 15 2017, 1:12 am

My babies never ate well if I woke them. They slept/sleep for four hour stretches starting at about a week. Before that they don't have the energy to stay awake through a nursing, so they nurse often.
My baby is now two weeks old and still falls asleep while nursing. But it's generally for a few minutes until she wakes to finish up.
There is generally one little long stretch of up to six hours. The other naps are 2-4hrs.
Make sure everything else is normal. If it is, I wouldn't worry. Your baby is now strong enough, and you likely have enough milk to keep her happy for a decent amount of time.

tweety1

Fri, Dec 15 2017, 10:38 am

Talking abt wet diapers my baby now when he was abt 5 days old he had a period of abt 6 hrs where he wasn't wet. All kinds of thoughts were racing through my mind, dehydration, kidney failure etc. I was away in one of these kimperturin places. I went into my private room with a water bottle and gave it to my baby. It took another 2 hrs + another feeding till he had a wet diaper. It was an isolated incident. I have no clue what it was. I thought I was there experienced mother who knows a lot. I guess I'm not.

amother

Jade

Fri, Dec 15 2017, 11:01 am

heidi wrote:

Telling mothers to wake kids every three hours is equally ridiculous. Was your neice having wet diapers or not?! I never said ignore advice but taking it to the T isn't necessary. And I'll bet they vary from pediatrician to pediatrician so if it's such gdly guidelines how would u explain that?!
Op do what you feel comfortable with. I believe in treating my children like ppl from when they are born. Noone likes to get woken. Clearly when someone is ill we may have no choice but to wake them to give them meds etc but don't take waking a baby lightly. Just because we dont have studies on the long term affects of this doesn't mean there aren't

dancingqueen

Fri, Dec 15 2017, 11:05 am

tweety1 wrote:

Oy. I’m glad your baby was ok but op please don’t give your newborn water. One of my babies didn’t get wet for a couple of hours as a newborn and I ended up needing to supplement with formula even though I was breastfeeding. In the newborn phase the baby could dehydrate very easily so it’s important to keep track of diapers. Call your pediatrician if you are concerned.

Machel

Fri, Dec 15 2017, 3:17 pm

Thank you everyone for the reassurance and advice. We have had lots of feeds and wet diapers in the past 2 days which I am taking to mean everything is good and I need to worry less. I am still constantly worried and anxious but its PP hormones mixed with new mom anxiety (I keep telling myself). If she eats every 3 hours in the night instead of 1 I am just going to be grateful.

amother

Mint

Sat, Dec 16 2017, 7:34 pm

dancingqueen wrote:

Just had to comment on this as well. Never give a small infant water. It can mess up their electrolyte balance and be deadly ch"v. Breast milk and formula are the only safe things to give to a newborn.

allthingsblue

Sat, Dec 16 2017, 7:37 pm

dancingqueen wrote:

This. DON'T give water. Babies have small stomaches and get full easily; don't waste their capacity with water! They need nutrients. If breastfeeding isn't doing it, give formula!!! Formula is much better than a hungry/dehydrated baby.